Pittsburgh revisited

My lasting memory of my last trip to Pittsburgh will be in the aftermath of the Rangers’ Game 5 loss to the Penguins in last spring’s Eastern Conference Semifinals. We were waiting in the cramped visitors’ locker room for Jaromir Jagr to emerge, knowing full well he likely played his last game in a Rangers uniform.

Once the Rangers captain came out after showering and shaving off his questionable postseason facial hair, a mob of media descended around his locker. Jagr was appropriately vague, even non-committal, and as we learned later, it may be because at that point, he still didn’t know what lay before him.

Some nine months later, the Rangers have been reconstructed without Jagr, and the debate rages on about whether they are a better team than they were a year ago. From a record standpoint, it’s no contest, especially after Friday’s overtime win in Chicago pushed the Rangers to 27-15-4. But most observers would say that’s also a reflection of a diluted Eastern Conference, with no team other than the Bruins truly distinguishing itself.

The best example of the Conference’s inconsistency can be found in the Rangers’ opponent today. The Penguins have two of the best players in the game, a maturing but still above-average goaltender, and can still point to their appearance in last year’s Cup finals as a learning experience. But they also woke up this morning on the outside of the playoff picture, and have fallen to the Rangers in all three meetings so far this season.

But all three of those games were at the Garden, while this afternoon the scene shifts back to Mellon Arena, where the team dropped all three games in last spring’s playoffs. If ever there was a chance for the Penguins to snap back to life, it could be today, even if Sidney Crosby is questionable with a knee injury (don’t forget, the team did just fine without the star for a spell last season).

So stay tuned.

Some note:

<lI>My apologies for the lack of posts of late, but I haven’t been with the team this weekend. According to Zipay, Dan Girardi is expected to “play today after sustaining an upper body injury in a fight on Friday”:http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/hockey/rangers/blog/. The fact that the team hasn’t called up a seventh defenseman reinforces as much.

<li>Larry Brooks has “some telling comments from Brandon Dubinsky”:http://www.nypost.com/seven/01182009/sports/rangers/dubinsky_rediscovers_scoring_touch_150689.htm after the sophomore center scored his second goal in three games in Chicago.

Rangers gotta play hard today. Pittsburgh is seriously slumping, but they still have great weapons on their team. It can be like waking a sleeping giant. The Rangers will need to surpass their level of play. No doubt we can do it

Yep. No doubt the Pens are a team that when they smell blood they will attack. The Rangers have done an excellent job of shutting down Cindy and Malkin and when they do that. They will absolutely win the game 10x out of 10.

I’d like to see a some Orr action on Cindy today. Not to mention see Orr and Dubi slam Malkin too. He was cry the other night about AO running him every chance he gets. Hopefully the Rangers will take the body on these two guys and throw them off of their games.

Playing hard and giving 100% every single game, shift and play should go without saying. There is not a team out there that is not a threat, slumping or not. You can not let up EVER in this league, you give it all 100% of the time non stop. The higher you finish in the brackets it might get a tiny bit easier that you are playing a lower ranked team. BUT STILL you give it your all, but I don’t have to tell anyone on this blog any of this. Here’s to Rangers giving it their all. CHEERS

Pittsburgh reminds me of an old joke
This guy is on line at the bus terminal and sees this really beautiful blond and just stares at her ,the ticket agent says
“next, next,,Next please !” and the guy says ” Um ,gimme two pickets to titsburgh please”
C’mon you’re smiling

i hope we score early to take the life out of the building n team. if we do that we can easily take this game. cindy has been a nonfactor so far this year against us, but id watch malkin , sykora and satan

Two of the Rangers’ wins were shootout wins though, so while they are 3-0 against Pittsburgh, the Pens are 0-1-2 vs. the Rangers, getting 2 of a possible 6 points. And the Rangers came from behind 2-0 in both shootout wins.

Let’s hope today is more of the 4-0 kind of win again. I predict 1-0 or 2-1 Rangers.

Eklund at is again. Says, we are in on a Vinny deal, but it would mean parting with Marc Staal. I don’t know why I ever visit that site. It is kind of like a car accident on the parkway, you don’t want to look, but you just can’t help it as you drive past.

Would anyone part with Staal for Vinny? I am sure it wouldn’t be straight up, but thoughts on this at all?

Nah, I think Orr will be able to do a good job on Malkin. Did you see that WSH vs PENS game? WOW AO was running at Malkin and Cindy all night long. Post game, Malkin says “I dont know why he hit me” HAHAHA

Well Malkin isnt known for diving, but you can be sure their bitch of a coach will be screaming all day.

Ah it looks like she is playing after all…. I have never hated a player more than him. Mario Lemieux is the only player I have disliked to the point it turns my stomach OOOOH and look who lives in his basement. The apple doesnt fall far from the tree eh????

Sloppy sloppy first near 8 minutes. Nothing going on in the offensive end and some skloppy line changes as well as poor defensive coverage with players running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

They’re in full rangers bashing mode today on nbc…as usual. It’s not like the Rangers are playing well, but every play is being deemed as brilliant piece of hockey by the penguins and garbage by the rangers.

What a pathetic period. Looks like they’re back to normal. Not helping out Hank, even though Hank should have stopped the 2nd goal, since its coming from a nobody loser, who’s one of the most ugliest players in the NHL. Honestly Kennedy has a sick looking face. You can tell girls only like him for his money, poor guy. He looks like Minkus from Boy Meets World, if anyones ever seen that. Or more recently the guy “Mouth” from One Tree Hill.

Anyway the refs are at it again, missing a tripping penalty, right in front of their retarded faces. I wonder if it’s the same losers from the other night.

Already im not looking forward to this game. Even though they blew 2 goal leads in the first two games, they don’t look good at all. Renney needs to get their shit together.

Yeah, that comparison by Milbury to McNabb picking up the phone made little to no sense. If a Giant really wanted to run him, he could, but with a penalty (not mattering at that point of the game) and a fine.

1st goal was good. 2nd was bad by hank and he doesnt look too hot today. even though he made some great saves, he cant make the easy ones and thats why i said game over because they spotted them the 1st period. thats 20 minutes. in order to win u must play n i know this is hard for the rangers to do-60 minutes!! they just dont look like they want it bad enough and please tell naslund to stop the weak backhanders that have no chance of goin in n try shooting it with some authority.

Mystery penalties on the Rangers while Pitt gets away with murder. Between Crosby on NBC and the complaints about the reffing from last game we are so not getting a call today. We are the pro wrestling of the 4 major sports.

I like in the first period on the Zherdev rush where both Korpikoski and Zherdev get tripped, yet all the announcers can talk about is korpikoski’s stick grazing the penguin up high as he tumbles to the ice.

Most of the Rangers are skating slowly and not showing much effort, so they deserve to be losing this game, but the officiating is not doing them any favors, letting the Penguins get away with almost everything, including a slash that just knocked Betts’s stick out of his hands. The penalties against the Rangers have been good calls, besides the Gomez one being questionable.

hockeyman, thats why they wont get far in the playofs. when u dont care enough to win or even try hard in losing with no repurcussions from softie renny than nothing will change. its sickening after such a great and inspiring game that they give no effort

one cup – absolutely no on avery. just see the videos in action for his own team. and 3 1/2 more yrs of him no thanks. there are normal people they can get that bring what he brings without being hated by his own team. isee us making a trade with ott.

mike in ia – I don’t know how you can bash Zherdev. Yeah he hasn’t been as good the last few games, but it is still a lot better than just about anyone else on this team. For a while he was carrying this team. And who else is gonna carry the puck into the zone? Gomez can, but everyone knows what he does upon immediately entering the zone.

Beer Me! – Going back to our Friday discussion, I don’t think the Rangers are going to win this game, but I will still watch the third to see what happens, especially in the physical and the pro-Penguins bias by the announcers departments.

kern, naslund has been bad too, as well as everyone makin more than 4 mill. these guys need to see that the teams behind us in the conference are catching up n passing us. its not october anymore. this team is still playing the same as before while other teams are in playoff mode. k, now im out

Orr’s pissing me off. He should have fought Godard in the 1st period. Now he looks like an idiot trying to challenge him now, when the game is clearly over.

This team is sad. How can they go from playing a great game against Chicago, to playing a pathetic shitty game against these fags.

I agree with who ever said last night that Vally should have played tonight. Hank is making some good saves, but he’s not getting the job done, granted his defense is letting him out for a mean raping.

Pissburgh has Godard, Bisonette, Cooke. We have Orr, and a pissy Mara. This should be a fun period, getting bullied around.

lobster im bashing zherdev because he is makin lazy n unintelligent plays today. hes a great player with potential but he needs to keep his game simple n stop doing too much. his fancy moves annoy me because 90% of the time they dont do jack. hes not that talented to be pulling that crap

(Penguins) Lets go after the Rangers best player. Scott Gomez? He is now the Rangers best player? I would trade him right now if I could. Also Naslund is utterly ineffective. That line is just terrible.

Id like to see a line brawl, and Hank kicking the living shit out of Fluery, and Zherdev doing the same to Malkin, and i hope Malkin breaks his wrist punching Nicky Z’s visor. This loss would be a hell of a lot better if that would happen.

I’m curious as to what could have possibly changed with this team from Friday night to now, less than two days later. I’ve never played hockey and haven’t been a fan for a long time, but what can be attributed to such inconsistency, both between the Chicago game and this one, as well as throughout the whole season??? They seem like a completely different team.

ya know what, i cant really bash z. its the whole team today. and i guess they felt that theyre untouchable after that game against chi. but yea no consistency from anyone and our d is horrible today. and hank has ben good today except for the 2nd goal. just an off game, at least they got a few needed points this road trip. they just gotta give 100% every game now. no more takin games off. not this late in the season with so many teams so close in the standings

Zherdev has struggled no matter who he’s played with the last two months. Naslund has fallen apart the last month or so. He has played alot like Shanny had the last few years here starting off strong and then falling apart.

This is the kind if game that a team often plays after a long road trip for their first game back at home. I guess the Rangers thought their road trip ended in Chicago and are playing at MSG. PATHETIC. I can deal with a loss when they play hard and it just doesn’t work out, but this shit, because that is what it is, shit, makes me furious.

I would like to take a second to say how much I hate Cindy Crosby. And the sad thing is this little punk is who the NHL has set their whole marketing campaign on the shoulders of. You can see it in the way that NBC is slurping him up. But what do you expect out of Bettman and Co.?

Girly fighting Semin hit the nail on the head about him. They should be hyping Ovechkin and Kane over the great diver, but instead they hitch their wagon to this litle pr*@%

Mike in IA, hows the farm down there? Before you criticize zherdev and his moves, try doing at least one of his moves, agreed taht he hasnt scored in what now 10 games? but he creates, he loves the team (evident in that bear hug he gave drury after rangers won in chicago), go back to milking the cow, i guess the boredom of your state is finally catching up

No fight whatsoever, not even to save face. I don’t care how bad you’re losing, it’s NEVER OK to get shut out or give up. The Rangers looked bored and disinterested. No leadership from anyone. I hope Hank starts calling people out in the locker room, starting with Redden and Gomez, because he was completely hung out to dry today

f’in sickening. what a way to come back after the best game this year. i cant stand this team as constructed. i know its 1` loss but a shakeup is in need. im sorry but renny just cant fire his troops up and needs to go. i appreciate what hes done since the lockout but he will never get this team far enough. every other team is playing in playoff mode and were still takin games off. i can accept a loss but not with no effort n fire and will to win. sad game and hopefully soon some changes are made and im talkin about the players as well as the coaches. redden, gomez, kalinin, sjoestrom voros pearn n renny. please get some toughness n desire on this team both in coaching n players. oh n naslund too

These team has no “jam”. I don’t care if the NYR lose a game. Even the best teams do. But its the way they are losing that is concerning. The NYR are the elixir for any team in the NHL that needs to get back on the winning track.

Trade for Avery (screw harmony)
See what it would take to rent Tkachuk
And let Redden watch a few games from the press box.

Renney is a pussy for not putting Orr on the ice. Either way, Orr should have did his job in the 1st period, but instead waited until it was 3-0. This team is full of pussies. That’s the Renney system. Total pussification.

Getting shut out by Marc Andre Flukey ?? Totally embarrassing. The dads should go down on the ice, and kick the shit out of their kids for the way they played. Except Mr. Vally. He’s probably too drunk, and tired to do that.

I miss Avery. I don’t know why. But all of a sudden im really missing that guy. Who knows maybe if we bring him back, Redden would consider waiving his NTC.

On a bright and positive note, I give Renney credit for the record the team has right now. He has pretenders looking like contenders (in the standings anyway). We all know this team isn’t nearly as good as its record. You can only credit Renney for that. Results don’t lie.

there is no toughness on this team
Zherdev gets leveled and nothing happens.
who cares if you take penalty you are already losing.
It is free run at the rangers.
tired of seeing dawes/sjoestrom skate around.
get some toughness.

lol i love this, why isnt orr on the ice, next game what the hell is the 4th line doing on the ice… you guys are pathetic… orr was on the ice trying to involve godard and that biseenote guy, but they smartly didnt get involved…

Im sure we are all vexed by this loss. Because how can we all watch the game against CHI see the team who fought like hell to win. They were playing against the Blackhawks and the refs. And then come in to PITTS and play like this??? Was it fatigue? Did they “bust their load”? Dont know what it is with them….

you may be right but how far are we going with dawes/prucha/callahan? All the same players and same size.
the only tough guy/player we have is Orr.
Playoff time comes and those litle guys are going to get banged around again and again.
I can’t believe there are no bigh tough players for us to pick.
Maybe Rissimiller stinks but can he do worse than dawes/prucha?
Change something anything!!!!!1

I bet you could get Tkachuk for Dawes straight up at the deadline. Listen, if you like a really lame team that wastes your time on Sunday afternoons, fine. I like my teams to win, and at least have some balls. Avery was a fan favorite. Excitement everytime he jumped the boards. Dawes, Kalanin, Redden. . . . these guys are unwatchable.

and lev, ive played hockey before ok i know that his moves are hard to do and he is talented, but sometimes he just needs to keep things simple. drive to the net. ok but dont get on me cuz i moved to iowa, because it has nothing to do with hockey and you have your preferences about how he should play and how i think he should play.

cwg – redden is a dman. avery is a forward. apples and oranges. unless you intend to put avery on defense. the guy is a miserable sob – and that is to his own teammates. buy another jersey – he’s yesterdays news

Cally, Dawes, Dubi, Prucha, Korpi, etc are all career 3rd liners. The Rangers have NOTHING up front. Just look across the river and tell me that you wouldn’t trade every one of these guys for the devils 3rd line? These guys are AVERAGE at best. The Rangers are an average team with an above average coach. That is why the are in the playoffs every year. I think the NYR have to get some new blood in here. Players with snarl to play a man’s game. Not some kind of fraternity where we all hug and kiss. Yuck.

hospodar agreed they need size and toughness. just not avery or tkachuk. i think they’ll make a deal with ott for one of their forwards. rissmiller can’t come up since he has 2 1/2 yrs left (according to all the writers) and if claimed we’re on the hook for 1/2 his remaining contract

Well, I will forgive them for this if they come out and beat the Ducks on Tuesday night. Like I said before, usually the big let down game, is the first back at home after a long road trip. They owe us all, to come out hard and really bring it at home and win Tuesday night. Anything less than that will just be unacceptable.

cwg – the best gm in the league from detroit was qouted as abosultely not on avery. there are plenty of players who bring sandpaper to the game without all his self serving bs. no on avery. get a different jersey or watch wrestling

This team needs an alter ego. This team needs snarl. This team needs the oponents to look up before going into a corner for a puck. This team needs a player that can go to the net with force. A hitter. A guy who strikes fear into opponents. . . . or at least a little respect. The NYR are dead in the water with this group of guys. Sorry. Again, credit to Renney for getting the points this far into the schedule.

The best GM in the league has much better players on his team. If the Rangers could afford to look elsewhere, then I wouldn’t care where Avery played. Who is on the 3rd line for Detroit? Fillipula? He is 20x the player Prucha or Dawes is. Look at there D. Hall of famer, the next Ulf Sammuellson, a guy in Johan Franzen who has more balls than the entire Ranger team? Yeah, easy for Holland to say he would never take Avery back. . . .HE DOESN’T HAVE TO!!!!

cwg – i and many others posted articles and videos showing exactly why we don’t want avery back. 29 other teams feel the same way. if you choose not to view or read them that is your business. i am not going to repost them as it would be a waste of time trying to change your love for sean avery to reality on what he really is.

You have to give something to get something. I really would have a hard time giving up Staal. Vinny definitely is a world class player though, and could be the center that Z needs to flourish in this league. Who knows. I guess it really isn’t worth talking about anyway.

Mike– fair enough, i just think zherdev is the kind of player that has to do what he was born to do, he has a natural talent with all those moves, taking that away from him would be cruel and unusual punishment lol

I love Marc Staal, but if Sanguinetti and DelZotto are the real deal, then letting him go for Vinny wouldn’t be out of the question for me. Of course this would make absolutely no sense unless someone else in the league would take Drury or Gomez. . . and only Sather is dumb enough to pay that much for those two.

cwg – i don’t want sean avery poisoning the lockerroom for next 3 1/2 yrs. we won NOTHING with him. NOTHING. and now that fashion has become his priority he’ll be much less effective. dallas realized that quickly. 30 gm’s feel the same way. but somehow you know better.

Let’s all discuss Staal for a few minutes here. I have a couple of questions about him. And don’t get me wrong, I really like the kid and love what he brings to this team.
1. Are we so high on Stall because he sticks out on what is a very very limited defense?
2. He is a Ranger draft pick that is actually playing in the NHL and contributing to the team.
3. Has the last name Staal.
4. Are we putting unrealistic expectations on him in terms of where a lot of us think he will be a few years down the road?

My point is, when you have a chance to get a real Franchise player,VL, not a #2 Gomez, and #2/3 Drury, line center, do you pull the trigger and make that deal?

I don’t know if the Rangers have a real chance of getting Vinny, but if they do, I am sure Staal is part of a package that Tampa would want. If you are Sather, what do you do?

LiJoe,
You can show me 1000 videos. I know what I see with my own eyes.
Here is a list of all time scumbags that I would take on my team any day of the week (because I don’t hang out with these guys, I just watch them on TV)

Do I need to go on? These guys aren’t my kids or my drinking buddies. I do not live vicariously through them. I just wanna pay $150, go to MSG and get my money’s worth. And I ain’t gettin it with this bunch of p***ies.

Poisoning the locker room? Are these guys men or women? Reggie Jackson was hated by the entire Yankee team. Even Thurman hated him. But Thurman was a PRO!!! He behaves like a man, and together they won championships. Check yoy ego at the door and do your job. If f***ing Jagr could take it anyone can.

#1 No. He is a legit solid defenseman. Unfortunately, he is more a defensive Dman. I would like to see some more offensive out of him. Every team should have a good balance of O Dmen & D Dmen. But that is hard to come by these days.

#2 I think the first answer to this question is on your #3 list. However, it is nice to see the Rangers DP getting a chance in the big time.

4. Yes. I think he will be a solid d man. That’s it. A little above average. No more no less. I hope he proves me wrong.

Again, I cant see the Rangers getting VL – his extension kicks in next year I think and its $10mm Rangers just cant afford it.

cwg – then don’t go. no one is holding a gun to your head to make you go. my point is the rangers do need size and toughness – YES. but avery at 5’9″ and the freak show he is is not the answer. there are plenty of better choices throughout the league.

As far as I am concerned, and this is my own opinion, but the only guys that I would include Staal in a trade for would be, AO, Malkin, Vinny, and Iginla. If I sat long enough, I am sure I could add maybe 3 more to that list, but those are the kinds of players that I would want back in return to package Staal in a deal. There really is no reason to think that he won’t get a lot better than he is already, but how much better is the question.

cwg – you answered your point unwittingly about avery above. detroit doesn’t need him because of their 3rd liners and other talent. so the answer is to upgrade that (without becoming a freak show). and your boy sean cares a lot more about fashion than winning the cup

Liljoe,
The Rangers are in cap trouble. Avery is gonna be bought out. The Rangers almost have to take him back at that point. The only trades I see the Rags doing is Tkachuck at the expense of Dawes and a pick. I could also see #68 coming back if we were lucky enough to lose Gomez or Drury.

I’m confused, did this team just go 3-1-1 on the road trip, winning three straight games before today? It sounds like they went 1-3-1, instead. I’m going to put the positive spin on today’s game, just because I like to do that, and say that the Rangers played their hearts out on Friday, working against those shorthanded situations which drained even the players who weren’t on the ice. Even though that was two days ago, the 12:30 start is a tough one, especially expecting more bad refereeing against you. I bet if Renney knew that Hasenfratz would also be at this game then he woudn’t have opened that bench door on Friday. Now I would say we are just better than even with the Penguins for the season, since both teams have a shutout and our other two wins came in shootouts.

God bless Zherdev for trying, but sometimes he needs to stop a little bit sooner and shoot the puck. He is still playing hard, despite what you think. I thought it was funny when the announcers were trying to determine why Zherdev was traded when it’s pretty clear that he didn’t get along with Hitchcock. Naslund, I agree, has been fairly invisible for most of the season.

We have other tough players besides Orr and Mara. They are called Callahan, Dubinsky, and Staal. Please tell me where Voros would have fit in today’s game; he wouldn’t have. ORR – Your boy did challenge Godard in the first when it was 1-0, but Godard would not fight with him then either.

I wonder whose fathers weren’t there, since that never seemed to be mentioned. I would guess four of Zherdev’s, Sjostrom’s, Prucha’s, Kalinin’s, and Rozsival’s, since they would likely be traveling from overseas, but one of them must live here or it would have been mentioned along with the other fathers coming from Europe.

Maybe Girardi should have taken this game off since I didn’t notice him out there anyway.

if tampa is trading vinny, they aren’t gonna take a player like gomez on. the only reason to trade him is b/c they want to rebuild and not have to pay his salary. it would take us staal, at least one of the russians and prob two first round picks. it’s not gonna happen, if he gets traded he is going to the habs

really they just need to ditch a lot of these players and start over. the fact they are in first is very deceiving. if the goal is to win a stanley cup we have a lot of work to do. if the goal is to make the playoffs so ticket prices can be raised again then sather is doing a hell of a job

and zherdev has talent for sure, but he is not kovalev (who is streaky for sure but has the best hands in the league and is a proven playoff performer) and frankly he needs to have a big 2nd half to even consider giving him $5mill, which is what i bet he’ll want.

lil joe,
No,no,no,no. The point that was made was that it was easy for Ken Holland to say Avery wasn’t worth the trouble, because he has enough talent to pass on #16. The Rangers have NO TALENT. These kids are garbage. And have no balls either (except Dubi to a degree). Avery had an impact with this team. The winning percentage doesn’t lie. Avery will be back in this league soon enough. You better hope it is here at MSG.

I can see the Rangers trading Gomez before they trade Drury, but only if it means that we get a first line center back or if we have another deal set up to get a first line center, like VL. I just have a feeling that some team with a lot of cap space will want a Gomez. He has shown for years that he can play in this league, and he is still young. Some team would take him. I just have this feeling that he will be the odd man out. I have a problem with the dollar amount on the contracts of Gomez and Drury. I don’t have a problem with the contract of Vinny, as long as we could rid ourselves of 2 of the 4 big contracts we have. (Drury, Gomez, Redden, Rozi)

cwg – hint. devs and isles fans call the rangers rags. it is a sign of disrespect. now who do you really root for. they don’t have to sign the punk avery. look to ottawa for one of their gritty forwards.

I am sorry Miked, I disagree. Vinny is absolutely a star, franchise player. In my opinion, the guy makes a difference wherever he plays. How about we fire Renney and bring in Torts to coach Vinny if we get him. Will that make you feel a little better about it?

and as good as vinny is when healthy, which he isn’t right now, we still would need scoring wingers to play with him. we don’t have any in our farm system (unless you consider paranteau a scorer, i don’t know much about him, but he can’t even get called up b/c of his contract)

Every team is packed against the Cap. You cannot make a trade where Vinny is making 6 million for a bunch of draft picks and guys on entry level contracts. You have to take back contracts to trade contracts…. the only difference between other teams trade offers is the “sweeteners”.

Marc Staal or Brandon Dubinsky are HUGE sweeteners — And they happen to be very replaceable

astute – another suggestion i’ve given in past, even though i like the player, let rozy and his $ 5 mm per yr contract go back to europe after this yr like we let kaspar go back. no cap hit although might have to subsidize all or part of his contract in real $. so you’re wrong in thinking i’ve offered no ideas.

somerset – i’m not saying we should not want vinny. i am saying tb does not want bad contracts ion return. they dumped boyle for that very reason. and not every team is up against the cap. i believe the isles, la and atl to name 3 are not at all anywhere near the cap. tb might trade vinny for staal, dubi, a couple of number ones. but how do we then fit vinny under the cap short of some team surprising us and taking gomez with 5 1/2 yrs left on his contract.

somerset – i’m sure you would. tb would not. rozy and redden are not number 1 or 2 dman despite their salaries. they also have cash issues. real cash not cap cash. and those will be exacerbated if they did not have vinny to draw fans in. do you really think fans woulod flock to see redden or rozy. tb makes that deal they might as well contract or move.

I think liljoe is right. TB isn’t taking any salary back for Vinny. A trade to NYR makes no sense. The Rangers should look into a Dawes/Dubinsky/Prucha trade to say PHO for Carcillo, Nash for Tootoo, etc. These guys are just 3rd liners cut from the same mould. If we can get a gritty 3rd liner in return, that would be a start. I would consider looking into a Rozi for Avery deal. Throw one of Dawes/Dubi/Prucha in to sweeten the deal. We aren’t gonna win with this defense anyway. . . . . .

the canadiens could make the space to trade for vinny and they would not be sending back any terrible players/contracts (redden and roszival are both based on their contracts)

prucha maybe would be an add-on, but it would cost staal/duby (prob only one of the two), one or both of the russians and first round picks. and then we’d have vinny but an even weaker farm system, likely only one solid player under 25 and no draft picks…hardly a solution to what ails this team

somerset – trust me tb has zero interest in redden or rozy. they had a far better dman in boyle and they gave him away. stamkos has felt big time growing pains. vinny might be traded to mmtl. mtlk has the young assets to give up. they also have the expiring contracts like kovalev and i think koivu to fit in vinny without making tb take on bad contracts.

cwgatti and somerset, you two may be as bad if not worse than sather. no one, especially not tampa, wants anything to with redden’s contract for the next five years and very few teams would take roszivals contract on.

and cwgatti u would throw dubinsky in to sweaten the deal in acquiring a player the stars are likely prepared to have in the minors for the next three years, are you Mike Milbury?

I would like to look into the crystal ball to me what I have to look forward to next season:

Zerdev will not resign with NY
Potter and or Sanguinetti will not be with the rangers because of long term contracts to redden ,rozival ,
the scoring drought will continue because of bad draft picks,poor player developement and over paid veterans
And because sather and dolan are impatient with the youth and want to to win it all now, so they will again try to sign another over paid veteran and the cycle will continue.

somerset – since salaries are prorated vinnys contract for this yr could be prorated. so mtl has already been rumored to make a solid offer without throwing in bad contracts. and vinny could then be fit in for next yr and beyond because they have expiring contracts like kovalev and koivu

season is half over, a team would only need to clear around 3-4 mill in contract space for this year. trust me if tb agrees to deal vinny, mtl will clear the space and give up the players (except for komisarek). they are dying for a legit french-canadien star (he is from mtl)

look at mtl – much better cap situation. see who is free agent after this yr. easy to fit vinny in

one cup – fair pts. last one can;t happen with cap going down so even sather can’t sign another free agent at high price and long term. z prob will sign here. but if it’s $ 5 mm or more prob should not

somerset – the part you don’t get is that tb has ZERO interest in either redden or rozy. that is a franchise in big trouble in real $ terms. getting either redden or rozy at those salaries and losing vinny would put the team under. they would be forced out of tb one way or the other. as you said you’re trying to take advantage of another team.

this is not nhl09 that you can make these types of deals. this is the real world so your proposal just doesn’t hold water

That is a very good point. They do have way more flexibility then the Rangers. But, i dont see MTL willing to part with Markov or Komi and TB absolutely wants a veteran D-man.

I dont know MTl well enough to comment on their prospects but I’m sure Dubi or Staal have to be higher then any 2 of their prospects (as an example).

Look, I’m come on this blog to kick around ideas, whether they are real or not real possibilities. That’s what makes these blogs fun in the first place. If we all agreed… this blog would be boring as shit

try some combo of higgins, plekanec, komisarek and a pick. if they want vinny and tb is willing to trade that will get it done. vinny would be a God up in mtl. still cause fan backlash in tb but at least that deal has some promise.

What are you talking about?? The only way to fix TB’s franchise from going under is to start winning. They could have Vinny there for the next 15 years and if they finish in the bottom of the league they will not have a team for those 15 years.

What good is having these Franchise players if their is no Franchise??

We have a bulk of young D-men and Centers that could make taking on a bad contract a pretty good deal is all im saying.

Plus do you remember what happened the last time MTL had a hard-on for a french-canadien player to be traded there?? Danny Briere still gets boo’d.

It is alot of responsibility for a French-Canadien player (esp coming from a low-intensity city like TB) to handle

somerset – and redden or rozy will help them win. are you kidding me. tb is not taking on a terrible contract for 3 1/2 yrs or 5 1/2 yrs for their best player. and no matter the sweetener (like dubi a 3rd center is supposed to make that bad contract taste good, pls spare me). i know you want the deal. but it takes 2 to tango and the other side has no interest.

im not trying to be harsh somerset, but for what it would cost us to get vinny it is probably not worth it. We need high end offensive talent for sure and vinny is certainly that, but to give up the amount of players and picks to get him would deplete our already weak farm system and supply of young players.

now it could be worth the risk if Sather was then willing to put redden/rosz and one of drury/gomez in hartford over the summer to clear the cap room. i don’t see anyone picking up any of those four players (maybe roszi if a team really had cap room) without requiring us to take on bad contracts. so assuming you can’t move or waive those players youd have vinny, gomez, drury as your centers, taking up 21+ mill in cap space. then factor in the contracts of rosz, redden, henrik and naslund and you have 44 mill committed to 7 players next year and 40 mill committed to six players for the next four years after that. zherdev would be gone since we couldnt meet his asking price at 4.5-5 mill.

Kc says “Why is Orr playing over Voros? At least Voros can score and even fight. Does Orr really need to play every game?”
I don’t think Voros would even beat Holwegg. I’d take Orr’s defensive play and smart cycle (don’t even mention the toughness factor)over the slow, half assed play of Voros.

LI Joe – You are becoming somewhat like Beer Me! with all of your disagreements, but in a better way since you are doing it smartly instead of smart-assly. I think you’re doing a good job keeping everyone sane. Phoenix would also have a lot of cap space; they would probably be interested in a player like Lecavalier since they are teetering on the brink of playoffs and need the money, but the risk would be too high to take on that big contract at that length, so they will have to look elsewhere, but not Ottawa either.

Nasty 1 – I would not trade Staal at this point unless we received a defenseman in return based on the state of this current defense. Staal is making a low amount of money in accordance with his age, and I can’t trust Potter, Sanguinetti, or Del Zotto to do anything because they are unknowns in the NHL, just like Staal two seasons ago. You need to keep Staal now. Trade one of the others to let another team gamble on potential.

somerset – Danny Briere was in the running to sign with Montreal, not be traded there. They would not boo him if he could not be traded through no fault of his own.

There is no sense bringing Lecavalier here unless you could guarantee the departure of Gomez or Drury, likely in a separate deal based on the Lightning’s financial situation. This is why Eklund is nonsense.

What a flat game, disappointing. I wish it had come against Chicago as opposed to a division/conference opponent.

Did anyone else think Crosby’s penalty shot was BS? He smoked Redden but the rule is you have to be alone with the goaltender, ie no one in between. I think that 1) Girardi was still behind Crosby technically and 2) could have made it over for a poke check. Total favoritism on the referees part.

somerset – you are so out there with this tb having any even slight interest in redden or rozy. big diff between signing a guy for 1 yr or one for 3 or 5 more yrs. i mean redden 5 yrs $ 6.5 mm per yr. are you kidding me. they would rather have you on the team and i know nothing about your ability.

spider – thanks. always appreciate your knowledge and even tempered demeanor. so a compliment from you means a lot, and shows maybe i’m not totally wasting my time with these multiple responses. and i do mean multiple.

also redden refused to be traded two years in a row when he was in ottowa. he just signed a 6 year deal with us (and i believe with a full NTC), so why would he waive it, and of all places TB. Schneider was only moved this year b/c it is the last year of his deal and the other times he was moved I am pretty sure it was in contract years. People have seen how bad/unmotivated redden is, a rebuilding team would want nothing to do with that and a good team wouldnt pay a #3 or 4 defenseman 6.5 a year, especially since by the last two years he will likely be a #5 or 6 defenseman

Roszival could, maybe attract some interest for a team with cap space and looking to compete. for all his flaws he isn’t horrendous (certainly not worth 5mill tho). but for a team forced to sell its most popular player for financial reasons and start over they want young cheap defenseman…Roszival is neither

There’s a time when Orr SHOULD be on the ice. The one minute left in the 3rd period in a tied game, or up by one ? NO ! On the ice when our players are getting destroyed, and nobody is doing anything aboot it, or trying to get some energy going for the team ? YES !

Renney is ruining Orr. This guy is forgetting what his job is, im sick of this bullshit. Im ready to change my name. I actually felt embarrassed as a fan watching Orr challenge Godard AFTER Orr decided earlier in the game to skip the fight, when Godard challenged him. That was dumb.

Like ive said before get Tootoo. Did anyone see him one punch that loser on the Habs. Guy was asking Toots if he wanted to take the helmets off, and he said no, and semi knocked him out. Funny. Plus he’s physical, and knows his role, and loves it. That’s what we don’t have, guys that know their roles. Thank Renney for that. That guy makes everyone believe they can be heroes on the god damn ice. Voros isn’t the player he was back with the Wild, he had a better offensive start, but physically he hasn’t been as good. Id even settle for a guy like Ott, or Chris Neil. This team needs toughness.

NASTY

I don’t know what the expectations are for Staal. He’s responsible defensively, but is still learning. Offensively he’s proven he has a pretty good shot, but we don’t see it that often. Maybe if Renney takes his head out of his ass, and takes Redden, or Girardi who haven’t scored a PP goal in god knows how long, off the PP, then maybe we’ll get to see him more, and see what he can do offensively.

Orr my boy you are an idiot. Please stop wasting everyone’s time with your long winded posts. Your ideas are silly and completely reactionary to the latest game played. I’m going to write to the school board because there is no way my son should have graduated high school.

We know, you want to trade someone on the team every other game. We know, enough already.

Colton Orr is the best enforcer money can buy for 540 thousand. Doesn’t take bad penalties and can go toe to toe with anyone in league. Name one enforcer who comes back from the off season a better skater…..

wow the stupidity on the site today is par the course after a bad effort.

1 cupin67 yrs. with 1 stupid comment after another. Sanguinetti gets paid peanuts the only factor that will affect if he plays for the rangers the next few years is his talent.

hockeybuzz knows les sthen me and that aint much. lecavalier to the Rangers, no friggin chance. Again Redden is truly untradeable, Roszival is not but he will not be traded this year, maybe in a year or 2.

the rangers sucked today, WOW.. If they do not play with energy(forcheck) with there loser offense they have no chance.. The bad news is Henrik looked good again and they wasted that…

SJustrom, orr, kalina, and Mara will not be on the team next year. Mara looked great on the Sykora goal, way to let a guy get behind you on the breakout..

ORR – I don’t know what you saw, but Orr was clearly challenging Godard in the first period and throughout the game, getting so frustrated that he took it out on Crosby after his slash on Betts.

Great to see the Eagles go down, but I was hoping the second half would be more like the first! It’s going to be an interesting Super Bowl with a great offense against a great defense, with a surprisingly good defense recently on the Arizona side, as well.

Speaking of the Super Bowl, I forgot to mention one thing in my long post earlier. The best afternoon game that I can remember from the Rangers recently was the Super Bowl day game last season against Montreal on the road. I thought it was something like 3-2, but after looking it up, the Rangers won 5-3 after being down 3-0 at one point in the second. Obviously a slow start, but still a well-played game for the Rangers as I remember it. In fact, two weeks later, they beat the Sharks 3-1 at home in a 1:00 start, but I can’t recall that game as well. Two weeks after that, they had that interesting shootout win against Philly in which both teams pulled their starters. So I’m not really understanding where this afternoon animosity comes from; maybe it’s just against Pittsburgh on NBC that we have the most difficulty, understandably.

I don’t know, it looked like in the 1st period, he bumped into him, and Godard challenged him, and Orr didn’t want to drop the gloves. I think Pierre said “there’s no point in challenging Orr” or something like that. Either way, its not like he was gonna do anything anyway, he was on the ice with Bisonette, and Godard two other times and didn’t challenge them. That’s all Renney. To me it seems like Orr loves the ice time he gets, and he doesn’t wanna spend most of the games in the box. I love his commitment to the team, wanting to fix his flaws, but stick to what you’re good at, and that’s fighting, nothing more, nothing less.

ORR’S MOM

Why don’t you post as your real name, instead of hiding behind a random one. It’s a little obvious who your are. My best guess would be……that old guy who has no life perhaps ?? I love your hatred for me, even though you don’t know me. That’s how its so easy to know every little thing aboot you. Virgin, High School Drop out, old guy depressed over the new wrinkles he gets each week, sits on his computer all day on this blog refreshing every 5-10 mins, which i have nothing against, but only if you do it at work, which i don’t think you do. Im sure im missing more shit, but eh no big deal. I think i might miss your posts after you bite the dust, lol which could be within the end of the year.

Don’t we have a bet where you can’t mention me or reference me or you’re gone a month? well goodbye on yeah that post by orr’s mom was probably by alamo or bob anyway since you lost the bet you gotta leave this site for a month.

Pierre said that because there was no reason for Godard to fight at that time since the Penguins had all of the momentum. Clearly, Orr was challenging him, and Renney was probably okay with it because Orr and Godard have fought two previous times this season.

I don’t know, it looked like in the 1st period, he bumped into him, and Godard challenged him, and Orr didn’t want to drop the gloves. I think Pierre said “there’s no point in challenging Orr” or something like that. Either way, its not like he was gonna do anything anyway, he was on the ice with Bisonette, and Godard two other times and didn’t challenge them. That’s all Renney. To me it seems like Orr loves the ice time he gets, and he doesn’t wanna spend most of the games in the box. I love his commitment to the team, wanting to fix his flaws, but stick to what you’re good at, and that’s fighting, nothing more, nothing less.

ORR’S MOM

Why don’t you post as your real name, instead of hiding behind a random one. It’s a little obvious who your are. My best guess would be……that old guy who has no life perhaps ?? I love your hatred for me, even though you don’t know me. That’s how its so easy to know every little thing aboot you. Virgin, High School Drop out, old guy depressed over the new wrinkles he gets each week, sits on his computer all day on this blog refreshing every 5-10 mins, which i have nothing against, but only if you do it at work, which i don’t think you do. Im sure im missing more shit, but eh no big deal. I think i might miss your posts after you bite the dust, lol which could be within the end of the year.

SEEMS TO BE YOU’VE GOT THE OBESSION AND TAKING classless shots suggests an intense hatred for a fellow board member for whatever reason. Question is will you welch on the bet?

Don’t trade Staal. Neither Sangs nor DZ is going to be as good as Staal is defensively. They might eclipse his offensive talent (you can see the offensive skill in Staal if you look close enough, give him a few years and he’ll be a 40pt d-man), but neither will come close to being the shutdown defenseman that he is.

As much as everyone here hates it, this team is built on defense. A defensive system requires defensive players. Fast, puck-moving offensive defenseman are better suited to play an uptempo system like Detroit or San Jose; they are not well suited to play a trap system such as the one we employ.

Trading Staal would be a big, big mistake, even if the return was Vinnie (never happen, anyway). Staal is the BEST defenseman we have, and he’s only in his second season! Give the kid a chance to develop. As he gets bigger and stronger, he will only get better.

All hail…I agree completely. As hard as it is to find an offensive defenseman it’s twice as hard to find a shutdown defenseman like Staal is on the verge of becoming. In only his 2nd year in this league he is by far our best defensive defenseman.

In no way was I undervaluing Stalls contributions to the team. I was merely asking if it would be a bad idea if we had to package him in a deal to land Vinny. I think the kid is a great player with some great upside. I think he is going to be even better as he matures, but I think if a team has a chance to land a player of Vinny’s caliber, you have to give it some serious thought. We need a bonafide scoring threat and true number 1 center. We have a world class goalie, no true scoring threat, and a mediorce at best defense. We basically have a team of third liners with a few second liners at best. I don’t know what is more important a solid defenseman or a scoring threat. Our problem seems to be scoring goals, so it makes me think a bonafide scorer could be the way to go if the opportunity presents itself.

nasty – cmon you’re cool as if i need to tell you that. i think we were responding to others who underrate staal’s contributionx. and i at least would much rather trade sanguinetti or del zotto instead of staal.

I never said the Rangers would be able to land Vinny, I was just arguing the fact that we lack a true Point-a-Game type player, and if we had to move some youth (Dubi or Staal), to move some crap contracts (Drury, Redden, Rozy, Gomez) Vinny would be 1 of maybe 5 players in the league to do it for.

The one comment i truly hate is “we are stuck with these contracts” blah blah blah.

Teams keep taking M. Schneider year after year despite being 35-39 years old and carrying a 5 million dollar paycheck with him depending on which one of the last 4 years he’s been traded.

Somebody took Brad Richards and his 7.8 million dollar paycheck.

The same people that piss and moan about our cap troubles, and overpaid contracts are always the first one’s to shoot down any opinions on how to possibly (no matter how realistic or probable) fix the situation

“Don’t we have a bet where you can’t mention me or reference me or you’re gone a month? well goodbye on yeah that post by orr’s mom was probably by alamo or bob anyway since you lost the bet you gotta leave this site for a month”

Hahaha, you fuggin retard, how do you know it was you i was referring to ?? Either way, i never agreed to that bet, there was no point since you lost anyway. You made the bet, then you posted something aboot me right after. I know its hard for you, and this is your life, but don’t worry, one lost bet isn’t the end of the world.

Im seriously beginning to think that Graves9 is Robby Bonfire/Bob/Yenner Mot/ everything else. This guy uses a bunch of different names, he has all the time in the world. Lol, its kind of sad, but enjoyable at the same time. This blog needs personality anyway, that’s the difference between RR and BB.